The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced (1967)

“I was at Olympic in the early stages of the new studio, which was phenomenal and very cutting edge. I was a junior engineer, and I got a call from the studio manager who said that I should be recording Jimi Hendrix. That’s how I got the gig.

“When Chas Chandler discovered Jimi in America and brought him to England, he wasn’t writing as Jimi Hendrix from a song point of view. When they did their first show in Paris, at the Paris Olympia, they were doing cover songs. By the end of ’66, Jimi had already written three or four songs, and by the time I got to him he was off to the races, writing a tremendous amount.

“I started working with Jimi in the middle of January ’67, and we began putting the album together. He already had the single Hey Joe, and The Wind Cries Mary had been cut – three or four things were cut, actually. On those songs, we did overdubs, and then we cut a bunch of new songs, which, of course, was the album. I mixed the record at Olympic.

“Chas’ contribution was as a producer, helping Jimi write the songs and making sure that everything was recorded in an efficient manner. He came from the old school of the three-minute song. Jimi’s job was to come up with the goods in terms of the crazy sounds, which he did with the use of his pedals and his amazing playing.

“I took what Jimi was doing and tweaked it out and pushed the envelope from an audio perspective. That was the basis of our relationship, the fact that we both enjoyed each other’s creativity. The challenge of recording Jimi was immense, but the fact that he appreciated my adventuresome ways with sounds cemented our relationship.”